Last night I was watching What Women Want and I was surprised that
I had forgotten how much I liked the advertising pitch for Nike Running that is
shown in the movie. During today’s lesson at GOTR the advertising pitch again
stuck out in my head. In case y’all aren’t familiar with what I’m talking
about, thank youtube for the wonderful footage.
What women want - Nike from Matthew Leem on Vimeo.
Today at girls on the run we talked
about advertising, but more specifically supermodels and how the pictures we
see in magazines and on TV aren’t always what these women look like in real
life. We went through a slideshow of before and after photos of celebrities and
popular icons that the girls would recognize, showing them how beautiful these
women are before photoshop and airbrushing. Most importantly we talked about the
expectations of our own appearances, and that we, and others, shouldn’t be
expected to look like the women that we see in magazines. Being who we are is
okay, and as one girl pointed out, its easier too, and no amount of
airbrushing or photoshop or make up can make us better runners.
As fun as our inside lessons are,
listening to these girls build confidence and make connections, it’s the laps
outside that I look forward to the most. Although it is sometimes a struggle to
get the girls running, it is always exciting to see progress and the
self-confidence that comes along with that. This week the girls were faced with
a goal of completing 3 miles during practice in preparation for their end of
season 5k race in a few weeks. I headed out with two of my favorite little ones
(well three if you count Kate’s stuffed dog that she runs with) and we
completed our first mile in 12 minutes. With a little bit more nagging from me,
we finished the next mile in 15, and aimed for 15 minutes for the last mile. As
we set out on our last lap I knew the girls were tired but we continued on,
setting small goals like running to the next lamp post and running to the
bottom of the hill…and running to the top of the hill… and running to the next
lamp post until we found ourselves running all the way back to the finish where
we found the entire team welcoming us back with a makeshift finish line. My
girls were the only ones to finish 3 miles today, and finishing was all that
mattered. I am so proud of the strides these girls are making, physically and
mentally towards coming strong and confident women and I can not wait to see
them cross the finish line on December 3rd with smiles and tears at
their end of season race.
